Today's games

March 24, 2001

No. 9 Virginia (2-3) at No. 5 Johns Hopkins (2-1)

Site: Homewood Field

Time: 8 p.m.

TV: Channel 2

Radio: WJFK (1300 AM)

Outlook: Hopkins is led by senior midfielder Eric Wedin, who erupted for a career-high five goals in last week's upset win over Syracuse after scoring just six goals in his career. Wedin also went 11-for-23 on faceoffs against the best faceoff specialist in the game - Chris Cercy. In addition to Wedin's team-leading six goals and two assists for Hopkins, freshman Joe McDermott has one goal and five assists and Adam Doneger has three goals and two assists. Virginia ended a three-game skid last week with a 15-5 win over Denver. The Cavaliers are led by first-team All-American Conor Gill (three goals and team-high 14 assists) and Chris Rotelli (team-high nine goals).

No. 12 North Carolina (4-2) at No. 3 Maryland (5-0)

Site: Byrd Stadium, College Park

Time: 1 p.m.

Outlook: Buggs Combs and the fourth-best defense in the nation have carried Maryland to a perfect 5-0 record. Michael Howley, Kevin Necessary and David Rose lead a defense backed up by goalkeeper Pat McGinnis, who has a 5.29 goals-against average and a 71.8 save percentage. Combs leads the country with 23 goals, and freshman Dan LaMonica continues to impress with nine goals and 10 assists. Senior Chris Malone had a 24-game point streak stopped last week by Delaware, which allowed Combs to rack up a career-high six goals. No. 12 North Carolina comes to College Park for the Atlantic Coast Conference game with losses to Duke and Bucknell.

No. 16 Brown (2-1) at No. 8 Loyola (3-1)

Site: Curley Field

Time: Noon

Radio: WNST (1570 AM)

Outlook: Too many penalties. That is the bad news for Loyola, which let another one get away last week to Notre Dame - the same Notre Dame team that ousted the Greyhounds from the first round of the NCAA tournament last spring. Combined, the Irish and Duke went 9-for-14 on extra-man situations against Loyola this season. Notre Dame's victory ended an 18-game March winning streak for the Greyhounds, who now must beat Brown to avoid losing two in a row at home for the first time since 1985.

No. 11 UMBC (3-1) at No. 14 Penn State (3-2)

Site: Jeffrey Field, University Park, Pa.

Time: 2 p.m.

Outlook: UMBC is still stinging from an 11-5 loss to Georgetown last week that knocked the Retrievers from the unbeaten ranks. Penn State is the second of four straight Eastern Coast Athletic Conference games for UMBC. Both Penn State and UMBC have one-goal victories over Cornell this spring, and both schools have lost to the Hoyas over the last two weeks. Josh Hahn leads UMBC with eight goals, and senior Eric Wood leads Penn State with 10 goals and six assists.

No. 17 Towson (3-2) at Delaware (1-5)

Site: Rullo Stadium, Newark, Del.

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Radio: WTMD (89.7 FM)

Outlook: This is the America East opener for both teams. Towson is coming off a 7-6 win in double overtime over Dartmouth, a victory that could mean the Tigers' fortunes in close games could be changing. Towson lost three games in the final minute last year, falling to Lehigh, Delaware and Maryland. In the 7-6 decision over Dartmouth, Hunter Lochte tossed in the deciding goal with 1:41 left in the second overtime and finished with three goals.

No. 20 Navy (2-3) at Stony Brook (1-3)

Site: Seawolves Field, Stony Brook, N.Y.

Time: 1 p.m.

Radio: WNAV (1430 AM)

Outlook: A winless and soon-to-be closed down Radford lacrosse program proved to be just the right medicine for a banged up Navy team Wednesday. The Mids romped to a 14-7 victory over the Highlanders behind four goals by Adam Borz. Now, Navy runs into ECAC foe Stony Brook, which is led by Kevin Pall's 13 goals and two assists and Matt Toner's 16 points.

Sacred Heart (3-2) at Mount St. Mary's (2-3)

Site: Mount Athletics Field

Time: 1 p.m.

Outlook: The Mount's two-game winning streak ended in monsoon-like conditions at Bucknell Wednesday, as the home team overcame a 5-3 first-quarter deficit behind a six-goal explosion by Dennis Geraghty. The Mount's Tom Dryer had 17 saves to keep his team in the fight. --- Bill Free